Muslim MP tells of gutless abuse

Jessica Benton
A GEELONG MP has revealed he was a victim of racial abuse for his Muslim background.
Member for Lara John Eren spoke out about the abuse in parliament while backing the State Government’s Sentencing Amendment Bill 2009.
Mr Eren told parliament he copped racial slurs from community members after his election to the Upper House in 2002.
“When I was first elected to the Upper House there was an underbelly of racism in the Australian community,” he said.
“I went on to have my fair share of nasty phone calls…My office was contacted numerous times by people – gutless wonders who obviously did not want to give their names – who had a go at me because of my Muslim background.
“I’m big enough and ugly enough to handle that. Both physically and emotionally I’m fairly secure and solid in my ways but I’ll continue the fight and weed out those minorities in our community that insist on being racist.”
The Sentencing Amendment Bill 2009 seeks to give magistrates power to increase penalties for crimes with prejudice as a motivating factor.
Mr Eren hoped the bill would “weed out” racial bullies and ensure they were “sentenced accordingly”.
“This amendment will seek to ensure that motivations of hatred or prejudice are also taken into account,” Mr Eren told members of parliament.
“This amendment will seek to reinforce this government’s commitment to the rights of all Victorians by ensuring that, when being sentenced, crimes that are motivated by hatred or prejudice towards a victim’s race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, ethnicity or language are recognised as such.
“If we as a government don’t make amendments such as this one, we’ll be condoning this behaviour and sending the wrong message.”
A spokesperson for Attorney-General Rob Hulls said the amended bill had passed through the Lower House.
The Upper House was set to debate the bill during its next sitting, the spokesperson said.